The Double or more Life of the Fake Heiress (Mirabella)

As soon as Zane walked in, Linden and a few others jumped up, all their eyes glued to him, looking pretty tense.

Zane's face was hard to read-somewhere between annoyed and just plain tired. His hands were empty.

He met the eager eyes of his students and knew exactly what they wanted to hear. With a slight smile, he said, "The application's been submitted. Mr. Calvin said he'll take it to Mr. Belcher this afternoon."

Everyone seemed to relax a bit at that; at least it wasn't a flat-out rejection.

"Does that mean we might get a response today?" Linden asked, his eyes practically sparkling with hope.

Thinking of Mr. Calvin's earlier attitude, Zane wasn't too sure, but he couldn't bring himself to crush their hopes. “We should hear back in a day or two at the latest,” he said with a reassuring grin. "Don't worry, I don't see any problems with our project."

If push came to shove, he'd take it up with Mr. Belcher directly.

Linden, Kason, and Jessie looked even more excited.

They were all really passionate about making this research project happen.

Mirabella, standing a bit to the side, seemed deep in thought, giving Zane a speculative look.

Zane decided not to drag it out and waved his hand, "Alright, everyone, go start prepping. The artificial life system needs a ton of virtual genetic data and sequence data. This is going to be a long research project, and we'll be busy."

After a moment, as if remembering something, he turned to Mirabella, "Wait, Mirabella, stay behind."

Linden, Kason, and Jessie nodded politely and quickly left the office.

Leaning on his desk, Zane looked at Mirabella, "Don't feel too pressured just because Linden and the others are ahead of you. With your skills, I'm confident you'll do great."

Thinking back to her impressive work on a previous project, Zane had a hunch that Mirabella might even surpass Linden and the others.

Mirabella was quiet for a few seconds before speaking, "Professor, you never mentioned me joining the research team before."

Zane coughed awkwardly, "...I think you're more than capable of handling it." Mirabella's expression was complicated, clearly not buying his excuse.

"The artificial life systems research is a project from the Institute of Technology. If we can add value to their work, there'll be significant financial rewards, and it'll attract more students to our department..."

As Zane went on, Mirabella didn't pay much attention but waited politely until he finished. Then she asked, "Significant financial rewards?"

Zane paused, looking a bit taken aback, “Uh?"

"I get it." Mirabella nodded, looking serious as she held up her proposal. "It's everyone's duty to contribute to science, Zane. Don't worry, I won't let the team down."

Zane was momentarily confused.

Her attitude seemed to have shifted.

"So, if there's nothing else, can I go?" Mirabella was now full of determination.

"Oh, yes, sure..." Zane nodded absently. It wasn't until she was out the door that he snapped back to reality.

Zane??

**

That afternoon, Calvin was getting ready to take some documents to Mr. Belcher. As he sorted through the papers, he noticed the funding application Zane had submitted, and his eyes narrowed.

After a moment, a cold smirk appeared on his lips. He pulled out the application and locked it away in a drawer.noveldrama